Mobile Broadband Info Blog

Four billion mobile connections reached

2009-02-13T14:56:00.002Z

The world passed its four billionth mobile connection this week, passing another milestone along the road to the ubiquitous wireless connectivity of every human being.

The first commercial citywide cellular network was launched in Japan by NTT in 1979 and it took 23 years for one billion mobiles to be connected. The two billion mark was passed in 2005, with the three billion milestone passed in 2007 and the historic 'tipping point' where 50% of all human beings are carrying a mobile phone was reached in Q2, 2008.

Further growth in emerging markets such as China, India, Indonesia and Pakistan, plus the integration of previously unconnected devices are expected to push the number of global connections to six billion in 2013. There are only 6.7 billion human beings.

Mobile Broadband accounts for just 100 million of the four billion mobile connections, compared with 1.1 billion fixed broadband lines. Given the rapid penetration of mobile into the global community, mobile broadband can be expected to accelerate from this point too. Notably, with fixed line broadband included, broadband connectivity now reaches one sixth of the world's population.

Meanwhile, in the uk, new figures from Ofcom this week have revealed that the number of UK broadband connections is nearing the 17 million mark.

The regulator's latest Telecommunications Market data tables show that up to the end of Q3 last year, there were just over 16.9 million active residential and small business broadband lines in the UK.

The tables, which detail the broadband connections between 2006 and Q3 2008, show that during this period there were slight market share falls for industry leaders BT Retail and Virgin Media.

In the case of BT, this is largely due to the increase in broadband connections using local loop unbundling (LLU). These line connections are provided by the likes of TalkTalk and Sky who have installed their own equipment in the telephone exchange - meaning they can offer users discounted prices and so called 'free' broadband services.

Government moves to settle mobile broadband spectrum dispute

2009-02-12T09:51:00.002Z

Lord Carter, the communications minister, has today called a meeting with the UK's five mobile phone networks as he tries to thrash out a deal that will help achieve his ambition of universal broadband access by 2012.

The former head of regulator Ofcom is attempting to get the UK's two original mobile phone networks, Vodafone and O2 – formerly Cellnet – to share a slice of the airwaves they were given in the 1980s, so that rivals T-Mobile, Orange and 3 can use it for mobile broadband services.

Lord Carter, in his initial Digital Britain report last month, said the mobile phone companies must thrash out a compromise on sharing the airwaves by the end of April or the government would impose a solution.

The slice of the airwaves controlled by O2 and Vodafone is important to the introduction of universal broadband because it is at a low frequency, which means signals can travel over longer distances.

O2 and Vodafone, understandably, are reluctant to give up their spectrum at the 900 MHz frequency unless the government offers them a sweetener by giving them a slice of the airwaves freed up by the switch-off of the analogue TV signal.

O2 launches into growing laptop market

2009-02-12T09:16:00.002Z

O2 today unveiled its plans to enter the laptop market with a promise to couple market-leading home and mobile broadband with impressive devices and excellent customer service. With laptop sales expected to reach 9-10 million devices in 2009, O2 is ranging Samsung laptops to create exclusive packages that will give customers everything they need to be more connected, with minimum fuss and hassle.

O2 will introduce three new Pay Monthly deals, available online and at its 490 stores nationwide, on 27 February 2009. With broadband bundles set to take a large proportion of the overall laptop market within three years, O2 is entering this market in a strong position with an all-round package that will meet the consumer needs of style, substance, staying power, service and security head-on.

O2 CEO, Ronan Dunne, highlighted the great opportunity presented by the market today: "We all want to be better connected at all times and the substantial and continued growth in the laptop market is symptomatic of this desire. Laptops are rapidly eroding the desktop PC market and at the same time, the emergence of the mini-laptop has opened up a whole new market for ultra-portable devices – one that is expected to more than double in size in 2009 alone. To date, the subsidised laptop market has received some bad press due to poor equipment and frustrating customer service experiences. O2 is stepping into the market with a promise to turn this around by taking a holistic approach to the product offer. Our package ticks every box when it comes to the main purchase drivers in the market, which in turn means we are taking away the 'worry-factor' involved in buying a laptop."

O2's laptop package is designed to give customers everything they want at a price that they will love:

Style – Samsung's NC10 mini-laptop and R510 laptop models combine great design with looks for the ultimate in laptop style.

Substance – with strong specifications and great performance, Samsung's NC10 mini-laptop and R510 model deliver on functionality too.

Staying Power – Samsung's solid specifications deliver staying power and assure customers that their choice of device will meet their computing needs for years to come, rather than just months.

Service – Recognising the 'worry factor' that many consumers have when looking to buy a laptop, O2 will offer customers expert sales advice to meet their needs. This includes O2 Laptop Support at no additional cost for a limited period to help get them up and running, with a chargeable option to extend this cover, O2 Assistant software to allow computers to be fixed remotely and award-winning UK based customer service. In addition O2 is offering a 30-day Happiness Guarantee on all laptops and an extended two-year warranty on all devices at no extra cost.

Security – McAfee software to ensure customers feel secure online.

"The growth in the laptop market is clear to see and we want to be a part of it. But we want to ensure that our customers get a better experience, not just when they buy the package but throughout the duration of their contract with us. Our two year warranty and 30-day Happiness Guarantee are market leading and show our continued commitment to providing great service," adds Dunne.

"Our bundle packages, unique amongst those currently on the market, provide customers with everything they need and we are confident they will move people away from traditional laptop providers and into our stores."

Customers can purchase O2's new laptop packages at any of the 490 stores across the UK or by visiting our online shop at www.o2.co.uk from 27 February 2009.

Vodafone and 3 merge Australian businesses

2009-02-09T16:40:00.000Z

Vodafone Australia and Hutchison Telecommunications (Australia) are to merge business creating a new business, VHA (Vodafone Hutchison Australia). Airtime services will be sold under the Vodafone brand,

Both companies will hold 50 per cent ownership of the new venture.

Huawei to deliver 'smarter' mobile broadband dongles

2009-02-09T16:31:00.001Z

Huawei are to Embed Network Diagnostic Tools into their 3G Modems.

Carrier IQ has announced that its diagnostic software is to be embedded within a new range of 3G modems from Huawei. The cards will incorporate a diagnostic engine to enable carriers to optimize and improve data performance using Carrier IQ's suite of analysis tools.

Announcing the partnership, Carrier IQ CEO, Mark Quinlivan, said: "These new cards will make for smoother delivery of mobile data services, improvements in customer care services, identification of network coverage gaps and increased awareness of actual user behavior."

"Everybody wins," he added, "the manufacturer of the card, the network operator, but most importantly of all, the actual subscriber to mobile data services."

O2 offers designer mobile broadband dongle

2009-02-09T16:25:00.004Z

Spruce up your laptop with this season's must-have accessory, a limited edition polka dot mobile broadband modem designed exclusively for O2 by fashion designer Henry Holland under his House of Holland label.

The House of Holland-designed skin will be included for free with O2 Mobile Broadband Pay & Go from 27 February for a limited time only.

Checking your email or surfing the web on the go has never been more fashionable than with the House of Holland mobile broadband, featuring one of the hottest trends for 2009 – polka dots. "Henry Holland is one of the most exciting designers in London and the perfect partner to help us add some style to our mobile broadband offering. Our customers have been telling us that they continually crave individuality and this delivers stand-out, personalisation and a bit of fun" said Peter Rampling, O2's Marketing Director.

Henry Holland continues: "I'm really pleased to have been asked to design this for O2. It's a fun project and something great to give to all my friends and something I know they all need!"

The exclusive House of Holland O2 Mobile Broadband Pay & Go will be available from 27 February 2009 at O2 stores and from the O2 online shop at www.O2.co.uk.

Orange mobile internet base up by 86 per cent

2009-02-07T10:33:00.004Z

Orange UK's latest Digital Media Index report indicated an increase in the network's total number of mobile customers to 15.8 million at September 30. It also reported 1.02 million home broadband customers.

The network reported an average of 1.485 billion text messages per month, 3.971 billion call minutes per month and 185,823 GB of mobile data per month.

The number of mobile broadband dongle subscriptions increased by over 2,000 per cent since January last year, while the number of mobile internet customers on 3G handsets and dongles was 2.9 million. It said the mobile internet customer base had increased by 86 per cent, with 1.3 million customers added.

Orange also reported on average more than 276,555 full music tracks are downloaded every month from the Orange Music Store, an increase of 10.5 per cent since last year's Orange Digital Media Index.

Ofcom review UK mobile broadband spectrum

2009-02-06T08:55:00.003Z

bbc.co.uk reports that UK regulator Ofcom looks set to change the way it sells off the airwaves freed up by the shift to digital TV.

It is planning to make a wider band of spectrum available for mobile broadband services than originally proposed. A move that has been welcomed by mobile operators who say it will make for cheaper and more flexible services.

Originally Ofcom promised to safeguard spectrum in the 800Mhz band for wireless microphones and digital terrestrial TV services, but now it proposes to make the whole 800MHz band available for mobile broadband and related services and find "alternative spectrum" for wireless microphones and digital terrestrial TV.

For digital terrestrial TV viewers, it will mean that set-top boxes will have to be retuned, something Ofcom described as "a simple procedure that usually takes a few minutes to complete".

"Ofcom has realised that there is momentum in Europe for mobile broadband so has had to co-operate," said Matthew Howett, an analyst with research firm Ovum.

Finland, France, Sweden, and Switzerland have already decided to release the wider block of spectrum for mobile broadband services and if the UK follows suit it will mean lower equipment prices for consumers.

T-Mobile's head of regulatory affairs, Robyn Durie, welcomed the move. "It is good news for us. Mobile broadband needs a big chunk of spectrum and previously we didn't have that," she said. "It means that consumers will be able to use the same services abroad that they can use at home."

Read the full article here.

Mobile broadband 'to become increasingly widespread'

2009-02-06T08:48:00.001Z

Mobile broadband has proved to be popular among UK consumers and is likely to become increasingly widespread, according to one expert. Tim Lord, regulatory director at Hutchison 3G (UK), said Britain had already become a converged communications landscape.

Speaking at the Joint Westminster eForum & Westminster Media Forum keynote seminar, titled Digital Britain, he said: "Mobile broadband has been an enormous success in the UK."

He cited figures from communications regulator Ofcom which show that around 12% of consumers have swapped fixed-line broadband for mobile broadband. He added that around 15% are currently thinking about making such a switch.

However, he said that for internet access via mobile devices to really take off, coverage will have to be improved and backhaul capacity will have to be increased.

O2 Tops J.D. Power and Associates UK Broadband Study

2009-02-06T08:33:00.003Z

O2 ranks highest in customer satisfaction for both UK mobile broadband and fixed broadband customers according to the J.D. Power and Associates UK Mobile and Fixed Broadband Studies, released today.

The J.D. Power and Associates study measures performance and reliability; billing; cost of the service; customer service/technical support; and offerings and promotions. O2 ranked highest in the study scoring 712 points out of a possible 1000 for mobile broadband and 767 points for fixed broadband.

"This is a fantastic recognition of the focus we’ve had on the customer experience," said Peter Rampling, O2's Marketing Director. "For both our mobile and home broadband services, we took our time coming to market to place the necessary emphasis on getting the customer experience right. This report demonstrates that we were right to take this approach."

O2 research in October 2008 found that one in ten people using mobile broadband in the UK felt they had been mis-sold the service by their provider. On the back of this, O2 re-launched its mobile broadband offering, reducing prices, creating a new coverage checker and introducing a new 50-day Happiness Guarantee. In December, O2 launched one of the UK's best value Pay & Go Mobile Broadband offerings and has quickly made strong in-roads into this sector of the market.

See all O2's mobile broadband deals here.

New laptops from Orange mobile broadband

2009-02-04T08:52:00.002Z

Orange has announced new products in its mobile broadband portfolio, with two new laptops in its consumer "connected" range and a new dongle with data storage capacity.

The new devices are the HP Compaq Mini 700 and the Toshiba L300 that will both be available on 24 month contracts. The HP Compaq Mini 700 is a 10.1-inch netbook and will cost £30 per month whilst the Toshiba L300, a 15.4-inch full size laptop, will be available at £35 per month.

Both the HP Compaq Mini 700 and the Toshiba L300 come with Orange's "Internet Everywhere" mobile broadband service and dongle, as well as a 3GB monthly data allowance and 24 month manufacturer warranty.

In addition, Orange has announced the availability of the Huawei E160e dongle in black, white and pink that offers support for an 8GB microSD card.

As soon as these deals are available we'll bring you details here.

Asus reveals EeePC with 9.5Hr battery life

2009-02-03T11:06:00.004Z

Asustek on Monday introduced an Eee PC netbook that the company claims offers a faster Intel Atom processor with the ability to run 9.5 hours on a single battery charge.

According to Asustek's promo site, the 1000HE is powered by an Intel Atom N280, which has slightly better performance than the previous N270 chip. In addition, the chip consumes a maximum of 2.5 watts, which contributes to the longer battery along with an LED backlit LCD screen.

The system has a keyboard that's 92% the size of a standard keyboard and sports a 10-inch display. The machine weighs 1.4Kg and ships with Bluetooth, 802.11n Wi-Fi support and a 160GB hard disk drive.

The new mini-laptop includes Asus' Super Hybrid Engine, which allows people to control the CPU to lower performance to conserve power. To achieve 9.5 hours of battery life, the user would likely have to lower CPU performance, dim the screen, and turn off the system's Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and camera, according to the gadget blog Gizmodo.

UK's first LTE 4G mobile broadband trial network tested

2009-02-02T16:40:00.003Z

Motorola has launched the first LTE (Long-Term Evolution, 4G) next generation Mobile Broadband trial network and testing lab in Swindon. The new lab began its life today with a live, standards compliant LTE call during which high-speed data services were streamed using Motorola's LTE infrastructure operating in the 2.6GHz spectrum and a prototype LTE device.

"Motorola is at the forefront of 4G development which will address the mobility demands of today's consumers who are looking for personalized media experiences and operators looking to lower their cost per bit and gain a competitive advantage," said Joe Cozzolino, senior vice president and general manager, Motorola Home & Networks Mobility, EMEA & Asia Pacific.

LTE is currently believed to be the most likely candidate to replace existing HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) based 3G Mobile Broadband services, which can only operate at up to a theoretical 14.4Mbps (HSPA+ can take this to 42Mbps) downstream.

By comparison LTE has the potential to reach 160Mbps downstream. Meanwhile, the big question remains over how mobile operators will afford to deploy a backbone network that will support the extra capacity.

Orange launches new laptop-inclusive mobile broadband deals

2009-01-31T12:00:00.003Z

This February Orange are expanding on their mobile broadband offering by adding some great new laptops to their current mix.

ASUS EeePC 901GO in black - £25 p/m
"I want an embedded small and light laptop"

3GB usage

1.46p/MB OOB

Embedded SIM

100 texts from laptop

Inclusive ASUS Eee PC 901 GO laptop

24 month contract

Customization

HP Mini 700 - £30 p/m
"I want small and light laptop but I want to use my dongle on other laptops"

6GB usage

1.46p/MB OOB

Free dongle

150 texts from laptop

Inclusive HP Mini 700 laptop

24 month contract

Customization

Toshiba L300 - £35 p/m
"I want a traditional laptop that I can use at home and on the go"

10GB usage

1.46p/MB OOB

Free dongle

200 texts from laptop

Inclusive Toshiba L300 laptop

24 month contract

No customization

We expect the official launch date to be 10th Feb, so watch this space for details.

New Acer Aspire 10" Netbook

2009-01-30T08:12:00.003Z

Acer announced details of their new 10-inch Aspire One on Friday; a netbook that has Windows XP as the operating system and a 160GB hard disk drive (HDD) for storage. The original Aspire One, which had an 8.9-inch screen, comes with a choice of XP or a Linux distribution called Linpus, and the option of a solid-state drive (SSD) or an HDD and Acer have confirmed that similar choice of OS will be offered on the new version. The netbook, which will launch in mid-February and cost around £299.

Digital Britain - the mobile broadband perspective

2009-01-29T18:52:00.004Z

The UK's Department of Culture, Media and Sport today published the interim Digital Britain report. Here are a couple of extracts relating specifically to the future of mobile broadband.

Action 6 - We are specifying a Wireless Radio Spectrum Modernisation Programme consisting of five elements:

Resolving the future of existing 2G radio spectrum through a structured framework, allowing existing operators to re-align their existing holdings, re-use the spectrum and start the move to next generation mobile services.

Making available more radio spectrum suitable for next generation mobile services.

Greater investment certainty for existing 3G operators: The Government wishes to encourage the maximum commercially-sensible investment in network capacity and coverage…(E)xisting time-limited licences could be made indefinite and subject instead to AIP beyond the end of the current term.

Greater network sharing: the Government and Ofcom will consider further network sharing, spectrum or carrier-sharing proposals from the operators, particularly where these can lead to greater coverage and are part of the mobile operator's contribution to a broadband universal service commitment.

Commitments by the mobile operators to push out the coverage of mobile broadband eventually to replicate 2G coverage and mark their significant contribution to the broadband universal service commitment.

Action 17 - We will develop plans for a digital Universal Service Commitment to be effective by 2012, delivered by a mixture of fixed and mobile, wired and wireless means. Subject to further study of the costs and benefits, we will set out our plans for the level of service which we believe should be universal.

You can read the industry reaction to the report in this Guardian article.

T-Mobile - fastest mobile broadband in UK

2009-01-28T14:54:00.002Z

3G.co.uk reports today that T-Mobile's mobile broadband network has been judged the best in the UK for the second successive quarter in independent tests carried out by leading test house P3 Solutions.

The tests, released today, benchmark T-Mobile against its competitors by measuring customer experiences that matter most to users during peak usage hours across 16 cities throughout the UK. When measured against its mobile broadband competitors, T-Mobile was found to be fastest by a considerable margin for web browsing, internet upload speeds as well as for sending and receiving emails.

The tests show that in Q4, T-Mobile had the fastest web-browsing experience that on average was 35% faster than the nearest competitor. T-Mobile's top ranking in the P3 Solutions quarterly analysis is supported by a superior upload performance that is 59% quicker than the next best operator. With the popularity of social networking sites continuing to grow, T-Mobile customers who upload photos to Facebook or videos to YouTube will benefit from the fastest overall upload speeds across cities tested in the UK. T-Mobile's Mobile Broadband service is also the best for sending and receiving e-mails with attachments, being fives times faster than all other operators for sending e-mails and twice as fast for e-mail reception.

Eight key mobile technologies for 2009/2010

2009-01-28T12:55:00.002Z

Gartner says that it has identified eight mobile technologies that will evolve significantly through 2010, impacting short-term mobile strategies and policies.

"All mobile strategies embed assumptions about technology evolution so it's important to identify the technologies that will evolve quickly in the life span of each strategy," said Nick Jones, vice president at Gartner. "The eight mobile technologies that we have pinpointed as ones to watch in 2009 and 2010 will have broad effects and, as such, are likely to pose issues to be addressed by short-term strategies and policies."

Gartner's eight mobile technologies to watch in 2009 and 2010:

Bluetooth 3.0 -The Bluetooth 3.0 specification will be released in 2009 (at which point its feature set will be frozen), with devices starting to arrive around 2010. Bluetooth 3.0 will likely include features such as ultra-low-power mode that will enable new devices, such as peripherals and sensors, and new applications, such as health monitoring.

Mobile User Interfaces (UIs) - UIs have a major effect on device usability and supportability. They will also be an area of intense competition in 2009 and 2010, with manufacturers using UIs to differentiate their handsets and platforms. New and more-diverse UIs will complicate the development and support of business-to-employee (B2E) and business-to-consumer (B2C) applications.

Location Sensing - Location awareness makes mobile applications more powerful and useful; in the future, location will be a key component of contextual applications. Location sensing will also enhance systems, such as mobile presence and mobile social networking.

802.11n - 802.11n boosts Wi-Fi data rates to between 100 Mbps and 300 Mbps, and the multiple-input, multiple-output technology used by 802.11n offers the potential for better coverage in some situations. 802.11n is likely to be a long-lived standard that will define Wi-Fi performance for several years. High-speed Wi-Fi is desirable to stream media around the home and office.

Display Technologies - Displays constrain many characteristics of both mobile devices and applications. During 2009 and 2010, several new display technologies will impact the marketplace, including active pixel displays, passive displays and pico projectors. Pico projectors enable new mobile use cases (for example, instant presentations projected on a desktop to display information in a brief, face-to-face sales meeting).

Mobile Web and Widgets - The mobile Web is emerging as a low-cost way to deliver simple mobile applications to a range of devices. It has some limitations that will not be addressed by 2010 (for example, there will be no universal standards for browser access to handset services, such as the camera or GPS). However, the mobile Web offers a compelling total cost of ownership (TCO) advantage over thick-client applications. Widgets (small mobile Web applets) are supported by many mobile browsers, and provide a way to stream simple feeds to handsets and small screens.

Cellular Broadband - Wireless broadband exploded in 2008, driven by the availability of technologies such as high-speed downlink packet access and high-speed uplink packet access, combined with attractive pricing from cellular operators. The performance of high-speed packet access (HSPA) provides a megabit or two of bandwidth in uplink and downlink directions, and often more. In many regions, HSPA provides adequate connectivity to replace Wi-Fi "hot spots," and the availability of mature chipsets enables organizations to purchase laptops with built-in cellular modules that provide superior performance to add-on cards or dongles.

Near Field Communication (NFC) - NFC provides a simple and secure way for handsets to communicate over distances of a centimeter or two. NFC is emerging as a leading standard for applications such as mobile payment, with successful trials conducted in several countries. It also has wider applications, such as "touch to exchange information" (for example, to transfer an image from a handset to a digital photo frame, or for a handset to pick up a virtual discount voucher).

HSPA+ rollout likely prior migration to LTE

2009-01-28T08:12:00.002Z

A significant number of mobile operators will be upgrading from HSPDA to HSPA+ technology as an interim stop gap before eventually migrating to LTE, according to the latest report from EJL Wireless Research entitled "3GPP Release 7 HSPA+ (Evolved HSPA) Network Migration Analysis."

"LTE technology remains on the longer term horizon but HSPA+ is here and now. The increase of UMTS downlink speeds of up to 21Mbps peak will significantly improve the consumer's mobile broadband experience." said founder and President Earl Lum.

"Given the economic uncertainty through 2009 and 2010, it is clear that mobile operators will upgrade to HSPA+ technology during 2009-2011." said Lum.

The full report is currently available for purchase and information can be downloaded at ejlwireless.com.

BT to re-enter mobile market?

2009-01-28T08:02:00.002Z

BT is considering plans to form a joint venture with T-Mobile and 3 Mobile.

Eight years ago, BT spun off its mobile arm, Cellnet, in a bid to raise capital to cut its debt. Cellnet went on to become O2 and was acquired in 2007 by Telefonica for the £18 billion.

T-Mobile and 3 already share their radio networks and have signed a number of agreements; the most significant of which was a new company they both created in December 2007 called Mobile Broadband Network limited. The trio have already worked together with T-mobile and 3 agreeing with BT to use their 21CN solution.

BT tried to launch a mobile network a few years ago, called Fusion as it partnered with Vodafone to become an MVNO. It proved to be a costly mistake with less than 50,000 customers signing over two years.

BT doesn't have much of a choice. It is possibly the only big telecommunications company in the world that doesn't have a powerful mobile arm and this is leaving it vulnerable to competitors and the acceleration of mobile broadband takeup.

Netbook sales to reach 139 million units

2009-01-27T09:52:00.002Z

Shipments of mini-laptops are expected to quadruple over the next four years, luring users with the right combination of size, price, and functionality, a research firm said Monday.

Mini-laptops, also called netbooks, are expected to grow in popularity mostly because of the failure of smaller mobile Internet devices (MIDs) and smartphones to deliver sufficient functionality to satisfy computer users on the road.

"In recent years, the industry still expected the smartphones to be more than they turned out to be, and most recently, MIDs were thought to be the next big mobile devices segment, but an unclear usage model continues to confuse the market," ABI analyst Kevin Burden said in a statement. "So today, netbooks' time has come, and ABI Research expects them to enjoy very strong market growth."

Smartphones, however, did a lot to pave the way for netbooks. The devices, which began as a convergence of personal digital assistants and cellular phones, introduced consumers to what was possible in mobile communications and Web access, ABI said.

ABI isn't alone in projecting strong growth in the netbook market, joining Gartner and IDC. However, the mini-laptops, which sell for as little as £180, have also had their problems with consumers. The rate of return for the devices has been higher than standard notebooks, primarily because of a failure to meet performance expectations.

Biz360, a market intelligence firm, found that netbooks get a 40% lower rating from consumers than other laptops. The findings were based on an analysis of 20,000 online opinions culled from consumer reviews on retail sites between May 15 and Nov. 15.

While vendors often portray netbooks as offering strong performance, the systems' low-power processors are best suited for basic computing needs, such as e-mail and Web browsing.

This report contradicts the views of AMD that we reported last week. Honestly, we believe AMD are more accurate in their predictions.

See the full range of netbook and notebook deals currently available with mobile brodband.

UK Privacy - Your Email to be stored for the government to access

2009-01-25T09:37:00.002Z

In less than two months, British Internet service providers will be required to maintain records on U.K. citizens' e-mail traffic.

The Home Office has ordered providers to retain records of all e-mail sent and received in the country for at least 12 months, beginning March 15. The government said it aims to increase national security and help prevent terrorism by requiring ISPs to capture and store the information. New European Commission rules will allow public agencies to access ISP data if they make a legal request.

The plan, which could cost the country's government £25 million, has drawn fire from ISPs and privacy advocates. Aside from being an invasion of privacy, the mandate can't guarantee the records would be protected from data breaches, critics said. They also point out that such a database could actually increase risks of criminal activity by placing an extraordinary amount of personal information in one place.

The requirement applies to e-mail sent by foreigners to UK citizens, but it doesn't cover the actual content of the e-mail.

The Information Commissioner's Office, which aims to protect privacy, issued the following statement opposing the plan:

"It is likely that such a scheme would be a step too far for the British way of life. Creating huge databases containing personal information is never a risk-free option, as it is not possible to fully eliminate the danger that the data will fall into the wrong hands. It is therefore of paramount importance that proposals threatening such intrusion into our lives are fully debated."

3 Launch mobile TV service

2009-01-23T16:29:00.001Z

3 UK has launched a new mobile TV section of its portal called 3 on Demand.

The content, which is managed by On Demand Group company Mobix Interactive, includes a variety of full episode streaming mobile TV ranging from scripted reality series The Hills, South Park, and celebrity news source E! 3 On Demand adds to the the operator's on-portal live TV streaming and off portal video content, which includes Sky Sports 1, 2, and 3.

Costing between £1.29 and £1.99 for a week's access to an episode the content will be delivered by Mobix's Adrenalin platform, users will be able to pause and resume without the need for a new client application.

3 UK product manager Alex Woodhams said: "3 on Demand can deliver a wide range of high quality full length TV shows in a flexible manner that allows users to pause and later resume shows where they left off.

"Amalgamating all of our mobile TV seamlessly ties in with our broader objective of using the speed of the 3 network to give people access to a wider choice of on-portal content and mobile internet services in a simple yet effective manner."

Mobix Interactive CEO Damian Mulcock said: "We are excited by the arrival of full form programming to the mobile environment, as well as Adrenalin's capability to deliver this new experience, as it is indicative of the momentum in the convergence strategies of our customers and the growing demand for multi-access by consumers."

3G/4G convergence a reality in the US

2009-01-23T16:20:00.002Z

In the 'States, Franklin Wireless and Beceem Communications have partnered to revolutionize the mobile broadband user experience with the introduction of the world's first dual-mode 3G CDMA/4G WiMAX USB Modem, the Franklin U300.

The U300 was commercially released by Sprint on December 17th 2008 and is the first USB modem that can be used on Sprint's existing 3G CDMA network and on Clearwire's 4G WiMAX network. The U300 incorporates Beceem's high-performance Mobile WiMAX chipset alongside an EVDO-Rev A chip.

Mobile broadband popularity surges in Europe

2009-01-23T16:09:00.002Z

According to a recent study from IDC, mobile broadband has grown rapidly in popularity among European consumers during the past 18 months. This rapid consumer uptake has been catalyzed by four main factors:

The upgrading of 3G networks with HSPA

The availability of small USB connection devices

A fall in the price of subscriptions

A rise in consumer penetration of portable PCs

"Mobile broadband presents a big land-grab opportunity, both now and for several years to come," said John Delaney, IDC's European director of consumer mobile research. "But although the service is simple in concept, its role in the consumer services market is complex. Mobility is only one among a variety of reasons why consumers like mobile broadband. Success in the market will depend critically on a clear understanding of how mobile broadband should be positioned in the spectrum of mobile and Internet services."

Mobile broadband is a new source of revenue for mobile operators and improves the use of 3G networks; unlike other new mobile services such as TV and gaming, it relates directly to a telcos' core business. "However, it also substitutes for fixed-line broadband in some circumstances, cannibalizing existing revenues," said Delaney. "As such, it is important for operators with both fixed and mobile networks to understand what factors are driving demand for mobile broadband, what is likely to happen to those factors over the next few years, and what strategies they should adopt to take maximum advantage of the opportunity."

Further Findings:

European operators sorely need new service revenues, and mobile broadband promises to satisfy that need by generating revenue that is new and entirely incremental to existing revenue streams

The combination of a strongly growing addressable market with prices at fixed-broadband levels, and in increasingly flexible packages, will ensure that consumer demand for mobile broadband remains strong for some time to come

The global recession, however, could slow down the penetration of portable PCs and therefore the addressable market for mobile broadband. It may also make consumers more reluctant to commit to a new service contract